Paige Victorine, Psy.D. | Co-Founder
Dr. Paige Victorine | Licensed Clinical Psychologist (Psy.D.)
Dr. Paige Victorine (she/hers) has over ten years of experience in the mental health field. As a therapist, she works with adults (college-aged and up) and couples. She conducts psychological evaluations with adolescents and adults (14+).
Additionally, Dr. Victorine offers individual coaching, supervision and consultation services for mental health and related professionals seeking support with specific clinical concerns or private practice-related resources/networking support (see Professional Consultation for more information), as well as speaking engagements and trainings for areas of specialty.
Dr. Victorine strives to provide her clients the space, skills and strategies for navigating life's challenges with intention, flexibility and acceptance so that they can get back to living more meaningful lives. Dr. Victorine maintains a trauma-informed, culturally-aware, & neurodiversity-affirming framework to create individualized treatment plans.
She supports clients with developing a relationship with their minds that allow them to weather emotional storms with a bit less struggling and suffering, and a lot more intention, mindful awareness, and meaning. Dr. Victorine believes that relief comes as a side effect of moving away from trying to eliminate your symptoms, and instead moving toward what gives your life meaning with those painful internal experiences along for the ride.
Dr. Victorine integrates Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and similar approaches such as Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and compassion-focused therapy, with a generous helping of related approaches, such as existential, attachment-focused, and systems perspectives to inform her treatment plans.
What She Treats
Dr. Victorine specializes in working with conditions of emotional over-and-under control, those with complex trauma histories, including traumatic or invalidating family of origin or other interpersonal concerns, and individuals dealing with adjustment-related challenges connected to chronic health conditions (including autoimmune conditions, chronic pain & medically unexplained symptoms).
Dr. V also has a particular interest in supporting late-diagnosed, suspected and/or high- masking/"low support needs" and/or "gifted" neurodivergent adults (e.g., late diagnosed Autism and/or ADHD), especially women, LGBTQ+ populations, BIPOC and AAPI individuals, and others in historically marginalized/underrepresented groups.
She works mainly with individuals in high-pressure or high-stakes work environments who deal with chronic burnout, perfectionism, and anxiety (aka, "people-pleasing", "over-achievers", and the "gifted" crowds). Many of her clients hold security clearances in high stakes/high level roles in government and related organizations; she therefore understands the importance of maintaining discretion when processing their career-related challenges in the context of therapy.
As a couples therapist, Dr. Victorine integrates a number of evidence-based approaches (including Gottman, ACT, DBT and Emotion-Focused Therapy) to support couples dealing with unworkable relational patterns. She specializes in high conflict couples, PTSD and complex trauma/personality disorders, premarital counseling, adjustment-related challenges following major transitions or breaches of trust, and neurodivergent couples (where one or both partners has or suspects having ADHD and/or Autism).
She guides her couples to a greater awareness of their interactional patterns and what started and maintains them, providing space for skill-building, values clarification and action planning suited for many learning styles and needs.
Dr. Victorine prioritizes diagnostic clarification to make sure her clients are receiving the best level or type of care for their specific condition(s), and to increase access to necessary accommodations and/or services. Diagnostic clarification can also foster improved self-compassion as well as inform what symptoms we prioritize in treatment. She works diligently to consider the whole person in context, and the diagnostic features as guideposts rather than absolute truths.
Who You Are
Dr. Victorine is a great fit for people who work incredibly hard--whether they see it or not-- and yet keep feeling that they're falling short of their own, or others', expectations.
If you've spent a great deal of your life aching to be understood, even if you don't always understand yourself...if you've regularly received feedback suggesting that you're "too much," "a lot", or "overwhelming,"-- if you feel like your worth is based on how productive or agreeable you are, and you can't seem to slow down, or you're constantly feeling like an imposter waiting to be discovered as a fraud... Dr. Victorine might be the provider for you.
While she can't promise a magic cure, she is ready and willing to support you with honing the tools you already have within yourself-- and offer up a few new ones-- with the end result of clearing out the unhelpful or unworkable stuff so you have more space, energy and time to do what matters to you.
Dr. V is authentic, deeply empathic, and real with her clients. They appreciate her candor and her genuine and warm demeanor. Dr. V's client retention rates have consistently been the highest at prior group practices from the beginning of her therapy career, at or above the performance of clinicians decades further into their careers.
Assessment Services
Dr. Victorine has extensive experience conducting psychological evaluations for adolescents and adults with a variety of presenting concerns. At Nouveau, she conducts neuropsychological and psychological assessments for ages 14+ with a particular interest in complex diagnostic cases. She loves taking on challenging cases in which the client or their families have found past treatment to be ineffective or insufficient, and prides herself in developing truly individualized recommendations that orient the client and their families to specific steps of what to do next.
Dr. Victorine strives to provide assessments that are neurodiversity-affirming, culturally-aware and strengths-focused, with a goal of supporting a more holistic view of the client.
She is especially passionate about hard-to-spot/suspected cases of Autism and ADHD, particularly in high achieving women and other members of historically marginalized and/or understudied groups.
Context is critical when it comes to Dr. Victorine's approach. Using the latest, evidence-based assessment batteries and regular engagement with other professionals, she never uses a one-size-fits all approach. She is committed to understanding scores and symptoms in relation to the person and the environments they exist within, and tailors her evaluations to suit the needs and function of the individual and the referral question.
Experience & Training
Prior to co-founding Nouveau, Dr. Victorine obtained experience working in psychiatric inpatient, community outpatient, private practice, healthcare settings, college counseling and specialty group practice settings in Salt Lake City, Baltimore, Boston and across Northern Virginia.
Dr. Victorine has adjunct teaching and clinical supervision experience at Loyola University Maryland and George Mason University, with a particular knack for presenting on topics of clinical and personal interest to groups of students and professionals alike.
Dr. Victorine serves as Nouveau's Director of Information & Networking, ensuring that the practice maintains a thorough referral and resource database, prioritizing strong connections with healthcare partners in the community who share Nouveau's values around mental healthcare.
She completed her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (Psy.D.) at Loyola University Maryland in Baltimore, an APA-accredited institution ranked among the Top 5 Psy.D. programs in the US throughout her time at Loyola.
She completed her pre-doctoral internship (also APA-accredited) at Suffolk University's Center for Counseling, Health & Wellness in Boston, MA where she conducted short and long-term psychotherapy via telehealth during the peak of the COVID-19 lockdown. She completed her postdoctoral fellowship at a well-known group practice specializing in comprehensive DBT services, as well as treatment for OCD and eating disorders in Arlington, VA.
Her doctoral dissertation focused on understanding the spousal caregiver's experience of burden following traumatic brain injury. She earned her Honors Bachelor of Science in Psychology at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, completing her honors thesis on therapists' perspectives of client progress during DBT skills group instruction.
Outside of the office, Dr. Victorine enjoys playing fetch (yes, really!) with her husband and their two cats, developing her pottery skills at her local art studio, watching the latest true crime documentary, or searching for her next treasure at an antique shop.
Dr. Victorine is licensed to practice in Virginia, D.C., and via telehealth in 40+ other states and territories under PSYPACT (see map of participating states: https://psypact.org/mpage/psypactmap )
Virginia License #: 0810007929
D.C. License #: PSY200001440
PSYPACT/APIT Mobility #: 13078